Shore excursions

[Catpow]

We loved them and did a mix of free and 'Regent Choice' excursions. The major difference between the two seemed to be if the tour was more than about 4 hours, then you paid for it - the operators were pretty much the same. Our fellow passengers were not deterred by having to pay an additional amount for excursions and one tour in Tierra del Fuego which was about $130 pp (from memory - it was 2 years ago) was the most crowded tour I recall. Particularly in Peru and Chile some of the ports are quite small and remote and the ship ties up almost all the tourism infrastructure in the area so private tours are almost impossible. Should you be curious about an individual port or tour feel free to ask. Although (obviously) we didn't do every tour we heard lots of feedback from our fellow passengers about the good and bad points of most tours that were on offer.

[cotto22]

We are seriously considering a Regent Cruise after being on Silversea, Seabourn and most recently Oceania. One stumbling block to returning to Regent since it has become totally inclusive is the shore excursions. I am a little apprehensive about ship organized tours, after planning our own and having some great ones on Oceania.

What kinds of numbers are in a group in the included excursions? I don't mind waiting for transportation, but I don't like being part of a huge crowd. Guess we got spoiled with the ones we organized on our last cruise with the help of friends we met through Cruise Critic. Thanks for any input you experienced Regent cruisers can give me!

[Travelcat2]

We are seriously considering a Regent Cruise after being on Silversea, Seabourn and most recently Oceania. One stumbling block to returning to Regent since it has become totally inclusive is the shore excursions. I am a little apprehensive about ship organized tours, after planning our own and having some great ones on Oceania.

What kinds of numbers are in a group in the included excursions? I don't mind waiting for transportation, but I don't like being part of a huge crowd. Guess we got spoiled with the ones we organized on our last cruise with the help of friends we met through Cruise Critic. Thanks for any input you experienced Regent cruisers can give me!

 

Based on our experience, I'll give you the best and worst case scenarios. We have taken some excursions with only 25 or so people on the bus. This worked out fine. The worse case has happened several times. Although there is between 25 and 30 people on the bus, there are multiple buses (average 4-6) doing the same excursion. Regent tries to route them differently (i.e. some buses do the itinerary in reverse) but this has ended up with our having wine tasting at 9:30 a.m. and lunch close to 3:00 p.m. (we were starving). We have also arrived at a restroom stop with several other Regent buses and only 2 stalls in the ladies room.

 

I have long been a proponent of being able to opt out of excursions for a reasonable credit. On the other hand, there are some itineraries (Middle East and Africa come to mind)where we appreciate the excursions and would not want to do excursions on our own.

 

We have sailed on Silversea and Oceania but still prefer Regent...... however, we do not sail on Regent for their "included" excursions. It should be noted that the cost of a Regent premium excursion is dramatically less than an excursion on Oceania and used to be less than on Silversea (have not sailed on Silversea for two years and they have made some changes to their excursion program.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Travelcat2

[cotto22]

Travelcat, yes it does. When we were in Dublin two years ago, we were on our own just leaving the Guinness Brewery and were kind of mindboggled over the Regent buses that were stopping there. I still have that in my mind as we are considering this cruise, although the thought of multiple buses and 2 ladies room stalls bothers me more.:)

We have an Oceania itinerary that is very similar to the Regent (both UK stops) and a Silversea that has UK stops and Iceland. But the reviews on the Silver Wind have been so universally negative that I have placed that itinerary on the very bottom. We haven't been on the Wind in many years, and our last SS on the Cloud was probably 5 years ago. We had a great cruise and found nothing lacking. But the CC reviews on the Winds have been scathing: food mediocre, ship dated, etc etc etc. We cruise every other year and do not want to make the wrong decision!

If anyone else cares to comment, please feel free! Thanks.

[UUNetBill]

My wife and I also enjoy having the included excursions. There are some ports where we skip them and either go on our own or arrange a local tour, but for the most part we use the included Regent tours. Some are better than others, and a few have been dismal - but the majority have been just fine.

 

We've found that as we revisit ports, we tend to use the included excursions less if we're familiar with the ports - often we'll book an excursion that transports us to where we want to be, then let the guide know we'll be on our own until it's time to meet with the bus later - we've never had any problems doing this as long as we notify the guide in advance.

 

Personally I love having the option of using the Regent tours - maybe in another 10 years we'll change our tune, but for now I like 'em. :D

[RachelG]

I too often use the excursion to get me where I want to be, but then George and I just do our own thing. We do let the guide know when we are doing this. Have never had a problem with this approach. We make it clear whether we will be taking the transportation back or doing our own transport, and we make sure we are on time if taking the ship's transportation back.

 

We have had some excursions where it was just a very small group--as few as 10, but most are in the range of 25-30. Not a problem unless multiple buses are going the same place, as Travelcat 2 pointed out.